Electric clock.



U. L. COLLINS.

ELECTRIC CLOCK.

APPLICATION FILED 1AN.8.191e.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ULYSSES L. COLLINS, 0F ENCANTO, CALIFORNIA.

ELECTRIC CLOCK.

To all 'whom z't may concer/n.' l

Be it known that I, ULrssEs L. COLLINS, a citizen of the United States,residing at-Encanto, San Diego county, California, have invented acertain new and useful Improvement in Electric Clocks, of which thefollowing is 'a full, clear, and exact description, `such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part ofthis specification.

My invention relates to electric clocks of the type wherein a pluralityof weights are utilized as the motive power for actuating the clockmechanism and which weights are periodically elevated by means of anautomatically energized electromagnet.

The principal objects of my invention are to generally improve upon andsimplify the existing types of electric clocks; to provide aconstruction which will operate positively, accurately and with minimumcost in so far as the consumption of electrical energy is concerned; tocombine in the operating mechanism a pair of weighted pawl carryinglevers with a single ratchet wheel; to rovide an improved `system ofleverage between the armature of the magnet and the weight Specicationof Letters Patent.

carl-yin levers, which leverage s stem auto-l matlca y compensates forthe varlation of the action of the magnet upon its armature; to providefor the maintenance .of bright or clean contact surfaces between theparts which contact to close the circuit in which the magnetis located,and further to provide a construction which can be easi and uickly takenapart for the purpose o being c eaned, oiled or re aired.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, my inventlon consists incertain novel features of construction and arran ement of parts,hereinafter more fully escribed, claimed and illustrated inthe'accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a front elevationalview of the operating mechanism of a clock of m improved construction,parts thereof eing broken away and arts in section.,

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section taken approximately on'the line 2-2 ofFig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a side elevational view of the clock and its operatingmechanism, parts thereof being in section.

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic view illustrating theelectrical circuit inwhich the clock is same -bein located and also illustrating a series ofsecondary clocks and the electrical connections therewith.

Referring by numerals to the accompanying drawings, 10 designates theback of the clock housing, the same being preferably constructed ofwood, and fixed thereto are brackets such as 11, which support theframework of the clock and which-latter includes a rear plate 12 and afront plate 13 said plates being vertically disposed, paralle with eachother, and framed together by suitable cross ieces. The lower one of thebrackets 11 is insulated from the rear plate 12 as illustrated in thediagrammatic View,

Fig. 4.

he pendulum 14 swings from a suitable support 15 on the upper portion ofback wall 10 and loosely connected to this pendulum is the lower portionof an arm 16, the upper end thereof being fixed to a shaft 17, the samebeing journaled in the upper portions of plates 12 and 13 and said shaftcarrying an escape lever 18. The ends of this escape lever coperate withan escapement wheel 19, the same being mounted on a shaft 20 and saidescapement wheel carrying a pinion 21 with which meshes a comparativelylarge gear 22, and which latter is mounted on a shaft 23.

Fixed to gear 22 is a small pinion 24 and meshing therewith is a largegear 25, the fixed on the minute hand shaft 26. This iaft carries theusual minute hand 27 and is connected by the usual gearing 28 to thehour hand 29, which latter is carried by a sleeve 30 operating on saidminute hand shaft.

Fixed on shaft 23 is a ratchet wheel 31, preferably provided with fourteeth, and loosely mounted on said shaft to the rear and immediatelyadjacent to said ratchet wheel are collars 32 and 33. Fixed to collar 32is an arm 34, the outer end of which carries a weight 35 and projectingfrom the end of the arm which is fixed to collar 32 is a fin er 36.

ivotally mounted on arm 34 is a springheld pawl 37, the point of whichis adapted to engage the teeth of ratchet wheel 31.

Fixed to sleeve 33 is an arm 38 provided at its outer end with aweight39 and projecting from the opposite end of this arm 1s a finger40. Pivotally mounted on this iinger is a Spring-held pawl 41, the pointof which is adapted to engage the teeth of ratchet wheel Patented Mar.4, 1919. Application tiled January 8. 1916. Serial No. 70.928.

31. This ratchet wheel 31 has a comparatively wide face and the pawlsare comparatively narrow and thus it is possible for the pawls toreadily pass each other on the face of said ratchet wheel as theweighted arms are actuated by the armature of the magnet, as hereinaftermore fully described.

The weighted arms 34 and 38 are the same length and their upwardSwinging movement is limited by a spring-held stop 42, which latterdepends from a bracket 43 at the upper end of plate 12. The face of thisstop 42 which is engaged by the weights on the ends of the arms 34 and38 is provided with a section of felt, rubber or analogous material 44,which serves as a cushion to receive the force of the impact between theweights and stop 42 and also to deaden the sound of contact betweenthese arts.

Projecting from plate 1Q be ow shaft Q3 is an insulated bracket 45 andcarried thereby are the coils of an electromafrnet 46, the same beinglocated directly in front of the ends of the weighted arms which are provided with the fingers 36 and 40. rJlhe armature 47 of this magnet ispivotally mounted on a bracket carri/ed by the upper ends of the magnetcoils and said armature is normally pulled upward away from vthe coresof the magnet coils by a retractile spring 48.

Fixed to armature 47 and projecting 'positions in the paths of travel ofthe iingers 36 and 40. Projecting forwardly from plate 12 is a bracket52 and positioned thereupon is a cushion 53 of rubber, felt or analogousmaterial, the same acting as a stop to limit the upward movement of thefree end of arm 49.

Referring now to diagrammatic view, Fig.

4, 54 designates a suitable battery and leading from one side thereof isa wire 55 which is connected to binding post 56 located on back wall 10of the clock. Leading from this binding post through said back wall tothe upper bracket l1 is a conductor 57. Leading from the other side ofbattery 54 to binding post 58 is a conductor 59 and leading from saidbinding post 58 to the lower bracket 11, which latter is insulatedA fromrear plate l2, is a conductor 60.

One end of coil a of magnet 4G is grounded, the other 'end of said coilbeing connected to coil of said magnet and the opposite end of this lastmentioned coil is connected to lower bracket 11 by means of conductor61.

rlhe secondary circuit for the secondary clocks 62 includes a conductor63 leading from the yokewr magnet 46 to the rst one of the series ofsecondary clocks, and leading from the last one of said series to lowerbracket 11 is a conductor 64.

The operation of my improved clock is as follows:

lV ith the parts in the vpositions seen in Fig. 1, it will be noted thatshaft 23 is being rotated under the, influence of weights carried byarms 34 and 38 and through the medium of pawls 37 and 41 which are inengagement with the teeth ot' ratchet wheel 3l. When arm 38 hasdescended to the position illustrated by dotted lilies a, Fig. l, linger40 will make contact with pin 50, thereby closing the primary circuitand as a result. arlnature 47 will be attracted'by magnet 44'). As saidarmature is attracted pin 50 will bear downward on the outer end ot'finger 40 with the result that weighted arm will be started in itsupward swinging movement.

It will be understood that one of the 'laws of magnetism in theattraction of au armature by a magnet, is that the power decreasesinversely as the square of the distance between the armature and themagnet increases. This. being the case, the attraction of the armatureis weakest when the current is first cut in or when the magnet is firstenergized. Thus. it will be seen that when the circuit is closed and themagnet is first energized, pin 50, which is closer to the' pivot pointof arm 49 than pin 51, is bear ing on the outer end of finge-r 40, saidpin 50 constituting a fulcrum with arm 49 a comparatively short leverand finger 40 a comparatively long lever.- This arrangement has theeli'ect of making the magnet relatively morc powerful during its weakestperiod or at the. time whensaid magnet is first energized, andimmediately after the weighted arm has been started in its upwardmovement due to the downward movement of .arm 49, the armature 47 hasapproached the magnet close enough to become more powerful with theresult that the increased motion imparted to weight 39 carries saidweight upward to a )oint where arm 38 is in substantially a horizontalplane at which time the fulcrum or bearing between arm 49 and finger-l-O is transferred from pin 50 to pin 51.

Inasmuch as armature 47 is now comparatively close to magnet. 46 and theattraction on said armature is increasing, the fulcrum or bearing pointcan thus be shifted from pin 50 to 51 advantageously in order to obtainthe effects of the increased power or pull of magnet and during thefinal portion of the upward movement of weighted arm 38, arm 49 erformsthe functions of a com paratively ong lever while finger 40 is serv ingas a comparatively short lever.

Necessarily the arm' 49 reaches its downward limit of movement when thearmature 47 contacts with the core of the magnet. This downward movementof arm 49 is comparatively quick, and following the contact or bearingof the pins 59 and 51 with llO created necessarily swings said armupwardly to its limit of movement and immediately after the finger 40passes a substantially horizontal plane on its downward movement, itwill leave and break contact with pin 51, thereby opening the circuitthrough magnet 46. At this period of the operation, arm 49 is at itsdownward limit of movement but it is immediately swung upward under theiniiuence of spring 48. At the time arm 49 reaches its downward limit ofmovement, finger 36 of weighted arm 34 has not yet reached a point whereit can contact with pin 51, consequently, the circuit will not berestablished until weighted arm 34 moves downward into the positionshown by dotted lines in Fig. 1 and at which time the finger 36 willmake contact with pin 50 thereby closing the circuit, with the resultthat arm 49 will be drawn down quickly and weighted arm 34 will bekicked upwardly.

A further advantage gained by the use of shifting fulcrums or contactpoints between arm 49 and the fingers of the weighted levers is the factthat both pins 50 and 51 have rubbing contact with the fingers 36 and 40and consequently thecontacting surfaces are maintained comparativelybright and clean.

Pin 50 makes contact to close the circuit and pin 51 is in contact atthe time the circuit is open or broken. As a result there is always abright or clean contact at the closing .of the circuit and the sparkwhich usually occurs at the opening point or on pin 51 is eliminated duetothe fact that it has rubbing contact with the fingers and is thereforekept bright and clean.

As weighted arm 38 is thus swungupward, its movement will be arrested byyielding stop 42 and 'the impact will be broken by cushion 44.

The point of paw-l 41 will rengage with one of the teeth of ratchetwheel 31, but during this upward movement of arm 38, the movement ofshaft 23 will lin no wise be affected for the reason that said shaft isunder the influence of weighted arm 34. When arm 49 reaches its downwardlimit of movement, or with armature 47 in contact with the core ofmagnet 46, weighted arm 34 has not moved far enough to bring finger 36into position where it can -be engaged by either one of pins 50 and 51.As soon as weighted arm 38` has been swung upward and contact is brokenbetween pin 51 and finger 40 the circuit through magnet 46 is'broken andas a result arm 49 will swing upward under the influence of spring 48and the upward movement of said arm will be arrested by stop cushion 53,and said arm will remain in this position until 'weighted arm 34 hasmoved downward a suiiicient distance to cause finger 36 to make contactwith pin 50, thereby closing the circuit and repeating the operationsheretofore described. Thus, the weighted arms 34 and 38 are alternatelyactuated with the result that the shaft 23 is constantly rotated andsuch rotary motion is transmitted through pinions 28 to the minute andhour hands carried by shaft 26.

When pin 5() makes contactwith either arm 36 or 40 the closed circuitincludes battery 54, conductor 55, binding post 56, conductor 57 upperbracket 11, and from thence through clock frame 12, thence through shaft23, and the arm 34 or 38, which is about to make contact with pin 50,thence to said pin 50, arm 49, thence through magnet 46, throughconductor 61 to lower bracket 11 which is insulated from the clock framework I and from said-bracket through conductor 60,

binding post 58 and conductor 59, back to battery.

The secondary circuit includes battery 54, conductor 55, binding post56, conductor 57, upper bracket 11, rear plate 12, shaft 23 and eitherarm-34 or 38, contact pin 50, magnet 46, conductor 63, secondary clock62, conductor 64, lower bracket 11, conductor 60, binding post 58, andconductor 59, back to battery.

N ecessarily, the opening of the circuit in which the master clock islocated opens the circuit in which the secondary clocks are located.

My improved clock is arranged to close circuit and effect the windingoperation at regular minute intervals, and thus said clock is especiallyadapted for use as the master clock in series with a number of secondaryclocks.

A clock of my improved construction is comparatively simple, comprises aminimum number of parts, can be easily assembled or taken apart, and bymy improved system of wiring, there are no electrical connections to beremoved or disconnected when the clock mechanism is oiled or repaired.

It will be readily understood that minor changes in the size, form andconstruction of the various parts of my improved clock can be made andsubstituted for those herein shown and described, without departing fromthe spirit of myvinvention,- the scope of which is set forth in theappended claim.

I claim:

In an electric clock, a clock frame including a pair of connectedplates, a pair of brackets supporting said plates, one of said bracketsbeing insulated from the plate to which it is connected, a pair ofelectro-magsignature in the presence of two witnesses, net coils, oneend of one of said coils being this 10th day of December, 1915. groundedon the magnetV core, the end of Y T the other coil being vconnected tothe insu- ULX SSES L' COLLIL S 5 ated bracket, a battery and connectionsWitnesses:

therefor from said battery to the brackets. D. N. DoDSoN7 In testimonywhereof I hereunto afiix my J. L. BAGBY.

